Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 23

Gurnett Aqueduct to Red Bull Aqueduct


Friday 31st August

At last, as I mentioned in my last post, we now have the fire alight and I can enjoy its warmth first thing in the morning. Sadly the chimney still need some work, removing the accumulated gunk caused by inferior coal, but that can now wait until we’re back at Mercia.

I also have a new pastel project, courtesy of Emma in New Zealand. This one is of a caravan in a field, the photo of which is below. Unlike the one I did of Rusty, which I have yet to show you, this will be much more challenging. I’ll be printing this one out later today and will keep you posted on progress.

Saturday 1st September

Well, we were going to get moving today, instead we decided to stay until this morning, when we can walk into the village of Sutton Lane Ends where there is a post office and farm shop. Going on to bridge 50 would have meant no Saturday paper and no TV pages. Not that we watch TV these days, not even for the Olympics.

We had hoped for a dry day, and that’s how it started but, alas, later in the afternoon the rain turned up. But not before we had cleaned up the forward deck, polished the new hooter and cleared the muck out of the shower filter.

Also, whilst taking doggie for her afternoon constitutional, I was fortunate enough to find a length of ½ inch iron bar. Once I have cut it down to size; that will be a wee bit over the inside height of the chimney; and cut one end at an angle, somewhat like a chisel point, I can then finish removing the aforementioned gunk inside said chimney. So, I’m now looking forward to another couple of hours of hammering and, hopefully, won’t have to remove the stack to finish the job.

This morning, so far, is dry and calm and so, after our walk to the village, assuming it stays that way, we will move on, but not to bridge 50, oh no, there’s a much better mooring spot only two miles away, and that one has a pub. Oh yes, Sunday is sacrosanct and I will not be denied my two pints of Guinness. So there!

Sadly, our wee pooch is off colour again and had us up at 3 am, after which she sat by the back stairs with her tummy gurgling, managing to keep me awake in the process. While she was on the pills she was fine, but she now seems to be back to her normal self. Fortunately the problem clears itself within a few hours and she seems to be none the worse for the experience.

Sunday 2nd September

What a very pleasant day we had yesterday. After breakfast we took a walk up to the farm shop at Sutton Lane Ends, about half a mile uphill and away from Macclesfield. Beef burgers are now our staple snack for Sunday afternoons and this shop is no different than most butchers in the area, producing burgers of a goodly size. Fortunately they also sell goodly sized baps in which to enfold them. Yummee!

With only two miles to go to Oakgrove we were in no hurry to leave, expecting to find a couple of boats already moored there. But this wasn’t the case, unlike when we passed through in the opposite direction. In fact, it wasn’t until later in the afternoon that another boat turned up, otherwise we would have been on our own last night.

As you would expect, we have moored close to a pub, this time The Fools Nook; originally The Royal Oak, specifically built to serve the navvies working on the construction of the Macclesfield, but later changed to Fools Nook after the last Jester in England, Samuel ‘Maggoty’ Johnson and one that we have not used yet and can now strike off our list.

Monday 3rd September

The Fools Nook was well worth a visit. A very tidy pub with friendly staff and a huge picture on one wall depicting three jesters capering about. I tried taking a photo with the mobile but, with interior lighting making the picture look darker than it is, I have my doubts as to whether it will show up when I download to the laptop.

The day is calm and dry, so we should be able to make our way down the 12 Bosley locks this morning and be in Congleton for Tuesday.

Tuesday 3rd September

With a stop for water and rubbish disposal at the top of the locks yesterday, we made the 2½ mile trip to the bottom in 3½ hours, which is not too bad considering the huge lumps of reed bed we had to break through between Oakgrove and the locks. Still, at least the BW boys were out and hauling those lumps out of the canal. So much for preserving wild life though if it means we boaters have to suffer weeds tangled in props, eh?

With the weather remaining bright and warm the mere thought of pastels under the roof of the boat gave me the sweats, so I decide to leave it until this morning. Wrong! Mixing colours under artificial light is not a good idea, and so I gave it up after struggling to find the right blues and greys for my sky. You would think that, with 12 pencil pastels, 12 full size pastel sticks and 64 half size sticks I could find the right combinations, wouldn’t you? But, so far I seem to be getting absolutely nowhere. Hopefully Emma will be able to help.

Anyway, with the fridge empty we do have to get to Congleton today, but, with the weather calm and dry and only four miles to go, it should be a pleasant trip.

Wednesday 5th September

To Congleton, from Gurnett Aqueduct took us just 1½ hours, which seemed a bit slow, until we moored up and saw yet more rubbish tucked under our bow. This included a really big ‘Y’ shaped log, about three feet of “2” by “2” timber and a bunch of reeds. Thankfully, the further we go away from those locks, the less likely we are to find the reeds.

Anyway, the weather was good enough to take the bus into town without having to wear a coat. Smiths had a book by Harry Sidebottam that I had been searching for and the latest from Lee Childs so, apart from stacking up with victuals and lugging it all home, the trip was actually quite enjoyable.

Later in the day I had another try at getting the colour right for the sky in my landscape project, and gave up after the third attempt. This morning though I received a reply from Emma with some advice, which I will try out later. Once I have licked this problem, if I ever do, landscapes should not present too much of a challenge.

Today we have to go into Congleton again, just to pick up my meds and any items we forgot yesterday, which will leave us free to moor where we like at Kidsgrove tomorrow and shopping at Tesco will not be necessary.

Thursday 6th September

A celebration is in order today, because, on this day in 2006 we collected our unnamed boat from The New Boat Company at Reading. Hip, hip, hooray!!

Into Congleton yesterday, ostensibly just to collect my medication from Boot’s, which we did, except for one item that had not been delivered and that item cost Wifey a walk into town later in the day. You have to ask why the huge conglomerates can’t get a simple order right. In the first place, when we put the prescription in, they didn’t have the item in stock; and I’ve been using these test strips for about a year now; and, having ordered two of them only one was delivered. Still, employ monkeys and pay them peanuts, what can we expect?

The rest of our time was spent picking up stuff we had forgotten on Tuesday and finding even more books at Smith’s and charity shops. But, upon walking along a street that we hadn’t walked along before, we found the Congleton Oatcake Shop. Of course, as everybody knows; especially our friends the Oxley’s; there aint no oatcake but a Staffordshire Oatcake, and we’re in Cheshire. Anything else is simply not up to par. But, we bought some anyway, along with a pack of Pikelets, which are 5 inch round holey pancake type thingies, full of currants, to be toasted and lavished with butter. Oh boy, I’m drooling here!! Congleton Oatcakes are slightly thinner and they cook somewhat drier, but, with the full application of cheese and bacon, they are certainly worth the effort.

About 3 pm Boot’s phoned to say the other box of strips had come in so, after Wifey went off to collect them, I pulled out me plonker and set to. No! Not that plonker. In this case the word is my euphemism for the Ukulele, which I haven’t plonked on for a few weeks now having been tied up with my new art hobby. Not that I’m getting very far with it as I still don’t seem able to get the sky right. The blue never seems to look like a sky blue whatever combination of colours I use. However, in order to surpass that problem I have resorted to watching my Colin Bradley video. I’ll get there eventually.

Whilst Wifey was in town and I was reading about Atilla the Hun; after finishing my uke practice; there came a knock at the window. A couple had pulled in behind us on a cruiser and the man, whose name is Martin, asked if I minded them hauling their boat past us, which meant him walking along the gunwale.

Of course I had no objection to this but asked why he needed to do so. It seems his gearbox had broken down and he and his wife Ann were trying to ‘walk’ the boat to the nearest boatyard, about another four miles away. Anyway, being the kind hearted chappie that I am, I suggested they stay overnight and we could then tow them there. At first he declined but, after talking to Ann, who obviously didn’t see the point in lugging the thing so far, he accepted my offer.

Hmmm! Last time I did that was on the River Calder a few years back, and that was a boat full of Boy Scouts. Indeed, we hauled them along the Huddersfield Broad and onto the river, soon after which they broke down again and we found ourselves hauling them another couple of miles, at which point they phoned ahead for help.

So, just as soon as Wifey has trotted off for the Daily Mail this morning, we’ll be off to Kidsgrove with a cruiser in tow. We hope for an easy run because we’re meeting Alan and Chris at midday. Looks like I’m going to have to suffer another hour or so in the pub. The things I do for friends! Still, we do have cause to celebrate, don’t we?

Friday 7th September

Martin and Ann and their cruiser ‘So So Happy’, were safely delivered to Sherbourne Marina and we were duly thanked with a couple of cans of Stella and a carton of Rose wine. Of course we protested, but they insisted and so we accepted and left them to ‘pole’ the boat into the marina, ready for an engineer to do his stuff.

Afterwards, having arrived at Red Bull aqueduct at about 10.45, we awaited the arrival of Alan and Chris, who turned up at 12.30. Sadly they also had other chores to carry out prior to their trip to China, such as collecting the necessary spending money, I was unable to put myself out with yet another trip to a pub. But, as we discovered after they had left us, the supplier of said cash insisted on photographic identification, which they didn’t have with them, so they will have to make another trip. Hopefully we’ll see them again in October before we return to Mercia.

Later in the afternoon a boat named Big Ben came by and, almost with a screech of breaks, stopped and reversed up and the bloke on the stern deck shouted at me through the nearest window. When I put my head out of the front cratch cover, who did I see but an old acquaintance from Bulbourne named Kevin. As I recall, he it was who came along with Pixie and myself to the hospital to have Pixie’s hand sewn up. A really good lad and a pleasure to meet again. Unfortunately, with a friend following behind, he didn’t have time to stop and chat.

Well, as it’s Friday and we have a good signal, I’ll drop this missive in the post.

Have a good weekend dear readers.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.